Pack Scores Road Win Over P-Bruins

Marek Hrivik had a goal and two assists to help lead
the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 5-2 win over the Providence Bruins.
(courtesy Chris Rutsch/Hartford Wolf Pack)

By Bob Crawford

Providence – Chris Brown scored twice, and Marek Hrivik and Mat Bodie had a goal and two assists each, as the Hartford Wolf Pack broke a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Providence Bruins at before 5,980 fans the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in downtown Providence on Sunday.

Mackenzie Skapski got his first AHL win of the season in net for Hartford, making 33 saves, and Adam Tambellini also scored.  Peter Cehlarik had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who were fresh off of a 9-1 win the night before at Lehigh Valley.

The Wolf Pack had a strong first period, getting goals 12 seconds apart from Tambellini and Brown and coming out of the frame with a 3-0 lead, and never looked back from there.

“They obviously had a really good game [Saturday] night, a lot of goals, but I thought we came out with a lot of jump tonight and pounced on them,” Brown said.

Tambellini opened the scoring on the game’s first power play at 7:25.  Taking a feed from Nicklas Jensen, Tambellini crept in from the left side and let go a shot that Bruin starting goaltender Anton Khudobin thought he stopped, but it trickled from his grasp and just over the goal line.

The Wolf Pack then got another one almost immediately after the center ice faceoff, as Brown made it 2-0 at 7:37.  Boo Nieves handed Brown a perfect pass at the right side of the goal mouth, and Brown easily tapped the puck into the net, with Khudobin caught helplessly at the other side.

Hrivik upped the lead to 3-0 at 12:16 with his tenth AHL goal of the season.  Hrivik received a pass out of the left-wing corner from Steven Fogarty and backhanded the puck from the right side of the slot, and it found its way just inside the opposite goal post.

Malcolm Subban replaced Khudobin in the Providence net for the start of the second period, in which the two teams would trade power-play goals.

Brown got his second of the game at 12:29, increasing the Hartford lead to 4-0, with Colton Hargrove off for slashing.  Hrivik and Brown broke up the slot on a 2-on-1, and Hrivik set Brown up for an easy finish from the right side.

Colby Cave ruined Skapski’s shutout bid at the 15:47 mark, though, after Fogarty was called for slashing at 14:40.  Cehlarik fired a shot from the right circle that was tipped by Cave, and Skapski nearly squeezed it between his pads, but it trickled behind him and just over the goal line.

Down 4-1 going into the third, the Bruins controlled play in the third period, outshooting the Wolf Pack 14-4, and cut the lead to two at 8:34.  Cehlarik scored his 18^th of the season from the left side of the slot on a rebound, after Skapski stopped a shot from the right point by Chris Casto.

That would be as close as the Bruins would get, however, and Bodie put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal at 17:31.  After the Bruins pulled Subban for an extra attacker, Hrivik worked the puck off the boards in the Wolf Pack end to Bodie, and he was able to loft it into the open goal from about the top of the circles in in his own zone.

The Wolf Pack’s next action is on home ice this Wednesday, January 25, with the Hershey Bears visiting the XL Center for a 7 p.m. faceoff.  That is another “Click It or Ticket Family Value Pack” game.  The Family Value Pack includes two tickets, two sodas and two hot dogs, all for just $40.

Tickets for all Wolf Pack 2016-17 home games are on sale now at the Agera Energy Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499.